Monday, January 12, 2009

WARNING! Scam Alert

If you're like me, you don't look super close at your bank statements. I confess, I am lax. But my beloved wife is NOT lax. She is a hawk. Nothing escapes her view. Which is why she caught the bogus check that took $24.95 out of our account. The same thing had happened to her about two months ago and fixing it was a pain in the ass.

I don't know how they got my account into, but they did. They then made out a check from ME to a company called Payment systems for a 'subscription' (apparently to an adult website). There is a phone number and a reference number on the check. The company that answers the phone is called M Billing or any of a number of variations. They quickly offered to refund the money (Rossana received hers promptly). They claim to only be a billing processor. Using the googles I traced their official address to Cypress. Read into that what you will. I smell a rat.

There is some internet buzz that the account information was leaked from Mary Kay or from Propay.com When Rossana was hit, they had her old address on the check, mine had my current address. Some people have been hit multiple times. We will likely never know the source of the leak. So many companies have your account data these days its frightening.

Tomorrow I will go to the bank, open a new business account, move most of our money into it, check for any outstanding checks, then close the account and order new computer checks. Fun.

Now go check your bank statement, here are some links to more info on the scam.

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